


Dash Casper

by cockabeetle, Kymopoleia



Series: Dash Casper [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: M/M, au where dash is the ghost boy but danny's parents are still the ghost hunters, danny is a lil weird and jazz doesnt help, danny is more of a nerd and has a hat and glasses, dash and paulina are so gay, kwan is the very flamboyant heterosexual friend, who might be dating star
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 10:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5331608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cockabeetle/pseuds/cockabeetle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Kymopoleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're pretty, and Danny's talked about you a lot, so I know you're cool, even though you kind of seemed like you hated me since before you met me. Then there's Paulina and Star, who are both pushy and unable to take as friends, due to having people already ask them. I mean," He pauses for a second, realizing that it sounds like she was the last option. "I wasn't actually going to ask them, I just meant that I couldn't, even if I had wanted to."</p><p>Sam blinked, and finds a couple things interesting in that answer. The more obvious one was that, well, she was surprised he backpedaled when he made it sound like she was a last option- she sorta assumed she was, considering her standing on the social ladder. But that was less interesting than the other point. "When do you ever talk to Danny? I haven't seen you two look at each other once since 8th grade."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. remember that episode with the dragon? sam still becomes the dragon

Dash knew he had to go to the dance. It would, quite honestly, be social suicide if he didn't go. Kwan was going, Paulina was going, Valerie and Star and everyone else. However, he had a really big problem getting in the way of asking out girls, and his problem's name was Danny Fenton. Well, being a ghost vigilante (sorta) also was part of it, but most of it was how hung up on and how much he thought about Danny Fenton. Eventually, he'd come up with a solution, even though it didn't feel like a very good one; he crosses the courtyard to where Sam Manson is, a white rose tucked into his jacket's inside pocket. When he got to her, he coughed to get her attention, and pulled out the rose. "Uh, will you go to the dance with me, Manson?" He asks, and even if he doesn't actually like her as much as he could, he feels like the rose is a nice touch. Plus, she has short black hair and even kind of looks like Danny, so maybe he'll be able to focus on her better than if she were a long haired blonde like Star, or a long haired brunette like Paulina. Or long haired anything.

Danny, who had been quietly waiting for Sam's long-winded speech about how 'he needed to go to the dance, because even Tucker seemed interested- or at least interested in asking girls to go- meant Danny would be alone if he didn't so why not go with Sam' to end, or at least actually get to the point, welcomes the intrusion by Dash with a smile. He hasn't spoken to the blond since the accident, but that's fine. He grins, fixing his glasses, as Sam stares at Dash in a mix of irritation, disbelief and horror. "Oh thank god, I don't have to go!" He pumps his fist and turns on his heel, getting out of there before Sam has time to react. 

Sam's eyes flick to Danny, who is /running away that traitor/, and then back to Dash. She glances at the rose. "Get me a black one, and I'll say yes."

Dash pulls a can of black spray paint out of his pocket and holds the rose away from her (and, more importantly, himself) as he does it. After a few seconds, he holds it back out to her.

Sam smiles, and takes it. "Thank you. I'll go with you, because you asked." She tucks her hair behind her ear. "Did you have to do it in front of Danny, though?"

Dash blinked, then glanced around. "What are you talking about?"

Sam raises a perfectly drawn-on eyebrow. "I was in the middle of a conversation with him? The moment you asked he thanked you for getting him out of having to go to the dance and ran."

He tried to remember, then realized he hadn't even noticed Danny and curses. "Shit, I didn't mean to ask in front of him." He reaches up to rub the back of his neck.

Sam flaps her hand. "It's fine, a lot of people treat him like he's invisible. Anyway, we're going to need to coordinate our outfits, since we're going together, and the first thing you need to know is there is no white allowed. Pink can be on you in small doses."

"What colors are your dress? Actually, do you have a picture of it? I need to coordinate. But, please tell me there isn't any fishnets? I don't look good in them, or know how to have them on a suit."

Sam pulls out her camera, flicking through it for a good minute before handing him the picture of her dress- and accessories. Purple with black and green accents. Her make-up is going to be more purple-and-green than black, for once. "I've got fishnet sleeves, but you don't need to match me exactly. Just color-coordinate."

He frowned. "If you're in purple and green, pink would have never matched." He looks over the picture again. "It's a nice dress though, very you."

Sam nods. "That's the point. Plus, if you showed up with pink, my mother would force me into one of her abominations, and I'm sure you understand why I'd prefer not to deal with that."

He nodded. "Pink doesn't work for you, Manson. You're more of a red than a pink." He pulls out his phone. "What's your number? I can text you pictures of some green shirts that I have and you can let me know which is better."

Sam holds out her hand, rather than say it out loud or rummage in her purse for a piece of paper. "That works. Do you plan on doing anything different with your suit? You've got the shoulders for a cape." She isn't really sure why she's complimenting him, maybe it's because he understands her talk about colors and coordinating them better than Danny or Tucker did- or at least he cares about it- or... something.

"I was just going to go with a normal suit, green shirt, and purple bow tie." He replied, taking her phone, putting his number in, and texting himself. "Thought having more green would look good compared to the purple dress. Thanks, but I don't think I can pull off a cape and still be captain of the team."

Sam nods. "Good plan. But why would wearing a cape affect being captain? Doesn't that require some skill?"

"The rest of the guys would be weirded out. You're goth, and I get that, but I'm not, Manson." He shrugs. "Capes aren't something I can get away with unless it's Halloween."

"A bit of creativity won't hurt anyone. And if they ask couldn't you just blame it on me? I guess I understand people would look at you weirdly for it, but they'll look at you weirdly for going with me in the first place, Baxter."

He shrugs. "I don't feel like explaining myself to them all the time. But, when do you want me to pick you up?"

"How about 7? That enough time to get there early? Danny's parents are chaperoning and I'd rather not leave them alone for too long."

Dash nods. "Does the dance end at ten or eleven?"

"Eleven, I think. Lancer's gonna be there, he probably knows if you want to confirm it?" Sam nods to herself. "I need to get to class, see you later, Baxter."

Dash waves at her as she walks away, and smiles to himself. Maybe the dance won't suck as much as he thought it would.

~o~

Sam tapped her fingertips against the table impatiently, steel-toed boot tapping against the tile flooring in time with her fingers. Danny was late. That wasn't exactly a new thing, his parents had a tendency to grab him at bad times, as did Jazz, not to mention his tendency to get caught up in things and forget. Her veggie burger with fries finally arrives, and she chews on it for a while. She notices Dash out of the corner of her eye, and raises an eyebrow at him.

Dash sits down across from her, holding only a bag and a drink. "Hey Manson, I have something for you."

Sam chews on one of her fries, other eyebrow rising to match the first. She makes a questioning noise around her food, because screw manners, she's been sitting in this awful diner for an hour and a half, she's hungry.

Dash sets the bag on the table and rifles around for a minute before finding the amulet. "I found this and thought of you, it's the perfect match for your dress." He holds it out to her, the stone shimmering.

Sam blinks at it, and reaches out to take it from him, eyeing the stone. "It's... lovely. Thanks, Baxter- Dash?" She pauses on the name, unsure which to use. It feels a little rude, to use his last name when he's giving her a necklace. "Is this real gold? What karat is it?"

"Uh... yes?" Dash shrugged. He had thought of her, but the necklace had fallen out of his jacket, so he didn't know much about it.

Sam raises an eyebrow, and studies the necklace. Her dress would look good with it, though her complexion suited silver better. Well, it was a pretty stone. "Thanks. I'll wear it to the dance, don't want to risk losing it between now and then."

Dash nodded. "Cool. You like it?" He sips the drink.

Sam nods, smiling. "It's pretty. Thanks for getting it, Dash. I wasn't expecting it, and it's a nice pick-me-up." She picks up her burger, again, and hums around it.

He nods. "Glad you like it, Ma- Sam?"

Sam smiles. "We are going to prom together, we might as well call each other by our first names. But if you call me Samantha I will burn everything you love."

Dash laughed. "Got it, Sam. Oh yeah, did you pick which shirt went best from the pictures I sent?"

Sam nods. "I was thinking this one?" She pulls out her phone to show him the picture. "It matches the green on my dress, and it'd be a great compliment. You could also have a darker green handkerchief in your coat pocket, to really sell the look. Would that work?"

"Are you sure a purple handkerchief wouldn't be better? I don't have as much of it. And what about the corsage?"

"That's the point. If you have more purple, we'll be unbalanced. Most of my dress is purple, just have one thing be purple. As for the corsage... I should get a green carnation, and maybe you should have a purple one?"

He nods. "Cool. So a purple bow tie and corsage, then green shirt and handkerchief? Do I need any other green?"

"Maybe a ring? Something with a gold band, to match the amulet?"

Dash snapped and grinned. "Hey, I have one of those! Cool. Just have to find it."

Sam smiles. "Perfect. Good luck with that." She takes another couple bites of her burger. "You know, I was wondering. Why did you ask me to go to prom with you? We never really talked before this."

He sipped his drink, thinking about the answer. She is actually kind of cool, and he has known her since middle school, but they'd never gotten the chance to talk due to her immediate joining of Fenton and Foley. Sometimes Dash regretted not actually working harder to talk to her, but when all the signs had said 'fuck off', he got the message. "It was a couple of things. You're pretty, and Danny's talked about you a lot, so I know you're cool, even though you kind of seemed like you hated me since before you met me. Then there's Paulina and Star, who are both pushy and unable to take as friends, due to having people already ask them. I mean," He pauses for a second, realizing that it sounds like she was the last option. "I wasn't actually going to ask them, I just meant that I couldn't, even if I had wanted to."

Sam blinked, and finds a couple things interesting in that answer. The more obvious one was that, well, she was surprised he backpedaled when he made it sound like she was a last option- she sorta assumed she was, considering her standing on the social ladder. But that was less interesting than the other point. "When do you ever talk to Danny? I haven't seen you two look at each other once since 8th grade."

"We hung out over the summer, but then there was the accident and I've kinda been avoiding him since then. It's rude, I know, but it's hard talking to him right now."

"Accident? What accident? He never mentioned anything, unless you mean that thing with the portal- Jazz mentioned it at the start of the school year. She said something about him having nightmares?"

Dash frowned. "Wait, he's having nightmares?"

"He might have been? He didn't talk to me about it, and when I asked Tucker all he said was that Danny doesn't like talking about things that scare him."

Dash sucked on his drink again, starting to feel guilty. "Oh."

"I mean, I don't even know what happened, I shouldn't be speculating, but I'm worried about Danny, he's tiny and quiet and his parents make some very dangerous equipment! What would happen if he got hit by some of it? It's apparently taken to targeting both him and Jazz, and could you imagine what some of that stuff could do to a person?" Sam didn't mean to start babbling at him, but Danny makes her worry, and she has a hard time shutting up when she's worried. And he was supposed to be here an hour ago, and he wasn't here yet, and what if he got hurt??

Dash reached across the table, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Sam, calm down. He's tiny, yeah, but he can take care of himself, you know? He's lived with his parents his whole life, and they love him, you know? He's fine."

Sam huffs. "I know that, but we both know what road is paved with good intentions! And Danny doesn't talk to people when he's hurt, at least he doesn't talk to me or Tucker, if he talks to Jazz I couldn't tell you. I'm just... I'm worried about him."

"I get it. I worry too. Not talking to him is kind of killing me," He almost winces at the dumb pun. "But he's okay."

"Why don't you talk to him then? I mean, Tucker doesn't like you, but Danny seemed almost relieved you showed up to ask me to the dance, and if you were allowed into the lab then he has to trust you a lot. I don't really see the issue here?"

"It's really complicated." Dash pulled back, guiltily sipping at his drink. "There's a lot going on and I don't know if he'll be cool about it or not."

"Danny's really laid back. Unless you do something unforgivable, or did, I guess, I just don't see him not rolling with it."

"It might be, Sam, I don't know." He shrugged.

Sam snorted. "We'll see. I really can't think of anything Danny would think of as unforgivable. Except maybe hurting Jazz? But who would ever do that?" Sam shrugs. "Well... I've been waiting here for two hours, I'm gonna head home. If you see Danny, tell him to text me, would you?"

Dash nods, and points at her tray. "Are you gonna finish your fries?"

"No, you can have them. Thanks for talking to me, and for the amulet. It was... fun, Dash."

He nods. "You're welcome, Sam. See you around?"

"Of course." She waves. "See you around."

He waves back, reaching over to grab a few fries.


	2. kwan and dash talk, and then kwan laughs at them both for pining

Dash switched back after defeating the box ghost for the second or third time, dropping the three inches he'd been floating to the ground. He glanced over at Kwan curiously as he closed up the glowing green thermos, fixing his jacket. "Dude, what is that?" He finally asks, realizing how many times they'd used it before and how little he had actually cared where it had come from.

Kwan blinks at Dash. "Uh, a Fenton Thermos? What else?"

"Yeah, but where'd you get it?" Dash crossed his arms.

"Uh, Danny? Duh."

Dash's eyes widen. "Wait, how did you get it without telling him why you needed it?"

"He said he saw us, being Paulina and me, fighting ghosts with ghost-you on TV and thought we might need it. He's been giving us any tech he thinks might work."

"Do you think he knows?"

"Uh, no? Dude, he pays like, no attention to anything. Sam pays more attention to us than he does."

"Then why is he doing it?" Dash uncrossed his arms and put his fists on his hips.

"He said he wanted to help us out. I dunno, he's a weird kid. I'da thought you'd know that."

"Yeah, I do, but this is too weird for him." Dash shook his head. "Whatever, let's get out of here and figure it out over burgers, I'm starving. We have a party coming up, right?"

"Yeah. And it's you-themed. Which is hilarious, you know that?"

"Do I have to host it, or can you?" Dash asks, crossing his arms. "The only difference between now and the other me-themed parties is them not knowing it's me."

"I know. And that's why it's hilarious." Kwan laughs. "And of course I'll host it. Do you have a costume planned? Cause I'm goin' as Paulina."

"Damn. Maybe I should go as you." Dash grins. "Then Paulina can be sexy-me."

Kwan laughs. "If you really want to, dude~ Wonder where Paulina's gonna get a jumpsuit, though. You think the Fentons'd let her borrow one?"

"Nah, not sexy-ghost-me. Sexy-normal-me. She just has to wear a white shirt and a varsity jacket and she's good. Wasn't she on chick's track at some point?"

"Yes." Kwan grins. "Awesome."

"See, man? Easy." He tugged out his phone to text the request to Paulina.

Kwan nods. "Yeah. Oh yeah, Danny said his parents were making this belt thing the other day, and he wanted me to try it out. Did you wanna meet up with him too?"

~o~

Dash glanced around the park, familiar with it from the years he'd been going there but still uncomfortable. He's following Kwan to the gazebo that's harder to see from the rest of the park and looking around nervously. "Kwan," he starts, still looking at the trees to their left. "This is a bad ide- uh, um, hey Danny." He finally looked ahead and saw his old friend standing there in his usual outfit, holding something and looking both tired and really cute. As soon as he thinks it, Dash knows he's crossed some mental line and sheepishly reaches up to scratch the back of his neck, though he's still worried that Danny ratted him out to his parents. Danny always was shit at keeping secrets.

Danny smiles at Kwan, about to greet him when he sees Dash behind the taller Asian. Danny feels a flutter of- of nerves, right, nerves- when he sees the blond, because Dash hasn't wanted to talk to Danny since the accident, not that Danny can blame him considering what Danny's parents did for a living. And what Dash was now, which admittedly Danny only figured out within a couple months, but still. He grins sheepishly, pulling the steel belt- the /Spectre Deflector/ as his parents call it- to his chest, not sure if it's safe for Dash to touch. He unbuckles it, to make sure it's off, just in case.

Dash waits for Kwan to talk because he doesn't trust himself to say the right thing, looking between him and Danny and standing slightly behind Kwan because, even though he won't admit it, half the nerves he feels around Danny are because of feelings and half because of his parents. The only reason he can talk to Jazz is because she's pretty much his therapist and would get pissed at him if he tried to shut down around her.

Kwan grins, and steps forward to swat at Danny's shoulder. He grabs the belt thing with his other hand, holding it up a little to get a good look.   
"What's this thing called, again?"  
"The Spectre Deflector. Also the Fenton Anti-Ghost belt, if you want the prototype name."

Dash took stepped forward too, looking at the metal belt. "And what does it do?"

"It's supposed to keep ghosts from being able to touch the person wearing it, like a portable, transparent ghost shield covering only the wearer. From the tests Dad did it should give a pretty powerful shock to any ghost who touches it when it's activated." Danny answers, gently tugging it out of Kwan's grasp. He really doesn't want Dash to try and wear it, there's no good way for it to affect him. The least it could do is send a low current of electricity through his system. The worst is electrocute him. Neither are preferable options.

Dash purses his lips as he looks the belt over, kind of worried by that. It didn't sound like something that would really be able to help him. Paulina or Kwan, maybe, but if they wore it all the time then he probably couldn't touch them. "How do you turn it on?"

Danny shrugs slightly. "Really simple, it's off when it's not in use, so buckling it should turn it on. I'd advise only wearing it while on a hunt or if the area's on a ghost lock-down, otherwise you'll drain the battery. I mean my parents use an insanely long-lasting one, but still. Better to conserve it than waste it, right?"

Dash nods, though he's more tempted to toss it into the pond than put it on. "Yeah."

"Kwan should probably try it, since he seems to be more likely to run into a ghost. At least, nobody's ever mentioned seeing you hunt one." Danny adds slowly, hoping Dash buys the crappy attempt to keep Dash from trying it on.

Dash blinked before shrugging. "Don't have time for that between football and being this cool." He smiles, hoping it sounds less lame to Danny and doesn't convince him of Dash's condition.

Danny nods, smiling in relief- he hopes it just looks understanding- as he drops the belt into Kwan's outstretched palm. Kwan wraps it around his waist, and there's a soft hum and a subtle green glow, when he buckles it. Definitely working, then.

Dash turns, his shoulder bumping Kwan's, and has a painful shock jolt him, making him jerk back, gritting his teeth and making an annoyed noise as he gives Kwan a dirty look. When he realizes the reaction, he glances at Danny and laughs to try to cover his mistake. "Static, man. It's a bitch."

Danny can't hide the concerned noise he made, but he forces himself to smile anyway, nodding. "I understand. You probably shouldn't walk home wearing that thing, Kwan. It won't help with the static, considering what it's designed to do."

"Yeah. Actually, Fenton," Dash has to force himself not to say 'Danny' like he used to. "Do you just-" he doesn't even make it through the request before a bit of ectoplasm is leaking into his mouth, letting him know a ghost is nearby. He groans and grumbles about how it isn't lucky and jogs away, forgetting to say goodbye in his haste.

Danny can't help the way he'd perked up when Dash addressed him- or how he deflated when Dash ran. The way Kwan snorts next to him tells him there's no way he can pretend it didn't happen, but the friendly pat on the shoulder makes Danny feel a little better. It's only after Kwan runs off after Dash that Danny realizes he forgot to give them the new handmade thermos he and Jazz had made them.


	3. ember has more of a range of control than she should have, and danny and dash misunderstand each other

Danny had run to Fentonworks to grab a couple weapons, and give Dash time to change into his ghost form- not that Dash knew that's what Danny was doing- and when he gets back to school, it's to find the entirety of the student-body and all faculty members- Principle Ishiyama and Mr. Lancer even- crowded around a rolling stage. Ember Mclain is set up on it, and is being harassed by Casper. Danny skids up, and when Ember sees him she smiles. She says something to the crowd, but the Fentonphones in Danny's ears make it hard to understand, like she's wailing and screeching while she says it. He does make out 'Get him', and knows she pointed at him- and not Dash, who's distracted by one of the guitarists- so Danny makes a half-aborted noise of protest and turns tail, not sure how far he'd be able to run before the crowd will catch him.

Dash hears Ember yell "get him" and expects to be attacked by hordes of students, but instead is immediately abandoned by everyone, including the ghost he'd been fighting. He looks around and sees Danny being chased by the entire student body and panics, swooping after him and grabbing him.

Danny panics, when he's grabbed, so it takes him a minute to realize he's been rescued by Dash. He ends up clinging to the half-ghost, not sure what to do. He hasn't felt this scared since... since the accident, really, and this is a completely different kind of terror, anyway. He hides his face in his hat, both to hide his tears, and his blush, because he just realized how close he is to Dash and even if he isn't sure how he feels about the taller boy, being close makes his face flush.

Dash doesn't notice how Danny shrinks in his arms or how he blushes, but he does notice the upcoming wall to the school. He phases them through it and flies upstairs. When he gets Danny safely into an empty classroom, he makes them tangible again and stands there, holding Danny and waiting for Danny to let go of him or do something or say something.

When Danny registers that they'd stopped moving, he peeks out around his hat, sees that they're alone in a classroom, and lets go of Dash. He manages to stand up with little difficulty, and he doesn't feel near as scared as he had a few minutes ago. He smiles. "Thanks Dash." He freezes. "I mean, Casper."

Dash let's go of Danny as soon as he's sure that Danny can stand on his own, and rubs the back of his neck when he's thanked. "It's no problem. Are you okay?"

Danny nods, silently thanking everything that Dash- Casper, as a ghost he's Casper don't mix it up- didn't notice his slip-up. "I'm fine..."

"Are you sure?" Dash asks. "Everyone else is like, brainwashed by that pop singer. Wait- how are you not brainwashed?"

Danny blinks. "I don't... know? I wouldn't even know who she is if Jazz and Sam hadn't talked about her for like, a good hour? Maybe more. I dunno, she just sounds really bubblegum pop, which I don't really dislike, but I don't like it, either? I don't know."

"I like her voice but it seems like she only knows the one song, and that gets old quick." Dash nods. "Glad you aren't brainwashed though. Can you help me later?"

Danny nods. "Of course. Anything for you." Danny hadn't meant to say that, but he doesn't know how to fix it, so he doesn't try. Instead he, brings up a concern. "Shouldn't you round up ou- I mean, my classmates? They seemed kinda... out of it."

Dash blinks, then curses. "Yeah, um, you good up here?" He asks as he steps back a few steps.

Danny nods. "I'll be fine. Go do your thing."

Dash smiles at him before going intangible and flying out of the building to fight his peers, only to find them not there. He flies around, checking to see where everyone went, but he didn't find anyone. It was worrying, but he didn't have time to freak out about it. He finds a corner to change back, and heads back into the school to find Kwan and Paulina and maybe smack them (and by them he means Kwan) out of it.

Danny managed to find Tucker, who had been making his way to... somewhere, possibly the records store, for a reason Danny didn't know. He didn't really care too much, just that he needed to make Tucker stop being Ember's... slave? Was that the right word? He's dragging Tuck to Lancer's classroom to try and use those Super-Crammer-SAT-Study things, when he sees Dash.

Dash sees Danny dragging a whining Foley and jerks a thumb at Foley. "Nothing's changed with him, right Fenton?" He jokes.

Danny frowns. And then Tucker starts wailing Ember's song, and he has to grab his ear with one hand. Because ow. "Could you just help me get him set up on one of those Crammer things? I need his help."

Dash reaches into his jacket pocket for his extra pair of socks to shove into Foley's mouth so that he can shut up for once, and nods, grabbing Foley's other arm. "Sure."

Danny tugs Tucker (and Dash) into Lancer's classroom, and plops Tucker into a chair. He uses a length of Fenton Ghost-Fishing Line to keep him there- this will never untangle, but at least he can cut it off later- and sets up the headpiece to pump Standardized Test Prep straight into Tuck's brain.

Dash watches with mild satisfaction as Danny ties Foley to the chair and puts the crammer on his head, then turns to Danny. "I heard everyone was heading to the record store to get free tickets, and I need to- I heard Casper was going to crash it too. You going with him?"

Danny nods. "I think so. Do you know a good place to wait for him at?"

"The hallway should work. I can, uh, stay and watch over Foley?" He suggests, though he knows that the second Danny is out of the room he's going ghost.

Danny nods. "You don't need to stay here for too long, he won't be going anywhere."

Dash nods. "Just for a few minutes, man. Then I'm going home. It'll be cool, my dad won't be home and he might be proud of me for once." He realizes what he said and feels a blush creep up his neck. "Uh, anyways. Go wait for m-Casper?"

Danny nods, and steps out of the room, walking down the hall a bit, and pulling out one of the Fentonphones to meddle with it.

Dash steps behind Foley and changes, then goes the roundabout way to come out on the other side of the hallway. "Danny?" He says, trying to get the other's attention.

Danny glances up, and smiles, slipping the Fentonphone back in place. "Hey, Casper. Did you hear about the record store thing?"

"Yeah, man. You still up for helping me?" He grins.

"Of course," Danny smiles. "How are we gonna get there though? The Assault Vehicle's kinda out of commission and I don't really want to steal a car."

Dash grins and holds out his arms. "Who needs a car when you can fly?"

Danny blinks, and nods a little. He steps closer, not sure what to do. Is he supposed to just grab Dash's shoulders?

Dash bends down and picks Danny up princess style. "We need to hurry if we're going to stop her." He says, explaining himself as he starts flying, going intangible any time there's a barrier between him and where he needs to be. He does add in some fancy swoops and turns, but he tells himself that they're necessary.

Danny squeaks, when he's picked up, and clings to Dash with one hand. The other hand tugs his hat down to hide his blush because Dash looked amazing and cool while flying and they were really close and. Danny wasn't prepared for this.

Dash smiles and hugs Danny closer as he cuts a few turns pretty close, unable to stop himself from noticing Danny. "Hey, man, you smell pretty nice." He remarks, then realizes that it is weird and not straight at all to say, and starts blushing. "Um, I mean. Uh. Sorry."

Danny squeaks again. Why does it have to be Dash that makes him blush like this? It isn't fair.

Dash mumbles more apologies before finally shutting up and just flying.

Danny peeks out from underneath his hat, and is relieved to see they're getting close to the record store. He likes Dash, but being so close is too embarrassing.

Dash phases Danny in through a wall and stands on top of one of the upper standing areas, wincing at how full the building is. "Every teen in Amity Park is here." He remarks, though he sees his fair share of adults too.

Danny nods. "Yeah... I'll distract them while you fight her? Do you have a thermos?"

Dash pats himself down, then shakes his head. "Kwan probably has it."

Danny nods once, and pulls one out of his bag. "Here, I stole a couple guns and a thermos from the lab earlier in case I needed them. You can borrow this, I'll empty it later. Also, could you drop me onto that cut-out over there? I have a plan."

Dash nods, picking Danny up again and dropping him off on the cutout. Then he heads for Ember and starts the meeting off with "Hearing your name is getting kind of old."

Danny doodles on Ember's face in red marker. He hears the outraged cries of a hundred fans. He's really not sure if they're reacting to him or Dash, but it really doesn't matter.

Dash fights Ember, following her up to the roof. He doesn't know when Danny manages to get up there with them, but at some point he catches him out of the corner of his eye and tries to direct the fight with Ember away from him.

Danny skids onto the roof, and watches Dash and Ember fight for a good minute before she hits him with something, hard enough to make him change back into Baxter. Danny curses under his breath, pulling a gun out of his bag and running so he's between Ember and Dash, who's sitting there dazed. "Get away from him!"

Ember laughs at them both and says something about how she didn't know lovebirds could be gay, then turns a dial on her guitar and sends some music blasts at them. They hit Dash more than they hit Danny, and he's knocked to his knees with everything spinning around him. "Danny?" He asks as Ember sends the sign crashing down and Danny onto the back half of it.

Danny stays very still, eyes wide. He isn't exactly afraid of heights- no more than your average person, probably- but he's sitting on a flimsy cardboard cutout hanging off of a four story building. "D-Dash?" He can hear police sirens, but they'll be under Ember's spell soon so they might not even be able to help oh god what is he gonna do?

Dash stands up shakily, taking a few shaky steps towards Danny.

"Stop! Don't come closer!!" Danny's voice goes shrill in fright, as his hands scratch for purchase against the wildly shaking cardboard. The only thing keeping it level is Dash on the other end, if Dash moves too close they'd both fall and then Danny could die and he's too young to die--

Dash pauses for a second, eyebrows furrowing. "But, Danny, you're over there, and I'm over here."

"Pl-please stay there, I can't fly and." Danny doesn't know why Dash wants to get closer, wait, didn't Ember say something about a love song? Was this a result of that?

Dash shakes his head, eyes still trained on Danny. "I need to be around you all the time." He steps forwards, a goofy smile appearing on his face.

Danny squeaks, as the cutout wobbles, tipping down. Danny's hands scrape against it, and he might scream a little. "Dash! Stop, please!" A policeman tells them to be careful and to stop moving. A helicopter will be coming in to get them.

Dash keeps stepping forwards, the idea of not trying to be near Danny making no sense to him.

The cutout tips forward so far Danny can't hold on anymore. He falls, and there's a shout below, but Danny's too busy trying not to cry.

Dash has a second where he pauses, but then he steps forward again, maybe to grab Danny and maybe to fall with him, he couldn't answer if he were asked.

Danny has just enough time to come to terms with the idea that he's going to die a splat on the ground, when a guy leaning out of a helicopter grabs him. The guy has Dash, too, and all Danny wants to do right now is cry.

Dash grabs Danny at the first chance he can, burying his face in his hair and just... enjoying being there with him.

Danny clings to Dash, because he was terrified. "D-Dash..."

Dash mumbles something into his hair, but he doesn't actually know what he said. It might have just been "yeah".

"Please just stay still if we end up in a situation like that again. If we are in one like that again, I'll come to you. Okay?" Danny wants to hit him. He also wants to cry.

Dash mumbles something that doesn't sound like an agreement, and a couple of the police officers look at them both weirdly.

Danny does hit Dash, then. Lightly. On the arm. "Promise me you will stay still. Don't you trust me?"

"I do!" Dash pulls back a bit, looking both terrified and like a puppy. "Of course I trust you! I would do anything for you."

"Then promise me that if I ask you to stop moving, you will do as I ask. You trust me to make sure we're always close, right?" Danny's sort of hoping talking to Dash like he was also affected by the... love spell? Whatever it is, will help Dash understand.

Dash nods eagerly, pulling Danny a bit closer. The helicopter finally sets down, but he doesn't move.

Danny tugs Dash so that they're standing a few feet away from the police, who are miraculously not under Ember's spell. Which is when Danny realizes that she was giving tickets out for a televised concert- a concert that would be broadcast all over the globe- and they were wasting time being lovey-dovey. And then the police forcibly separate them and demand to know where they live.

Dash hadn't wanted to be apart from Danny, but the police officer knew his father and threatened to tell him. He gets taken home, and his father is far from pleased. However, he manages to make it up to his room, lock the door, spread out some memories of Danny, and cuddle one of his teddy bears while thinking lovingly about Danny.

Danny is dragged to Fentonworks the moment he mentions his name is Fenton, and he is horrified to find his Dad and Jazz have fallen to Ember's spell too. Mom is still wearing her Fentonphones, and is mildly concerned with how enraptured Jazz and Dad are. She is also very not pleased that Danny was dragged home by the police until Danny manages to gasp out that a fight with a ghost ended with him dangling off a roof. He doesn't mention Dash. His mom congratulates him on fighting the ghost and promises he'll catch one someday.

Dash seriously considers texting Danny, but can't find his phone to do it, and just sits in his bedroom, thinking and smiling dumbly to himself.

Danny gets his mom's permission to go out and try to find the ghost, but he has to bring another thermos, a spectre deflector, and a Fenton Bazooka. Danny doesn't put the belt on, because it goes against all of his ethics, and also Dash is half-ghost and it's hella dangerous to him. He gets to Dash's house, and scales the wall with no difficulty and no detection. He raps his knuckles against Dash's window impatiently.

Dash looks over at his window and can't stop the dumb grin from filling his face as he goes to open the window. "Danny?" He asks excitedly.

"Hey Dash, let me in, would you?" Danny smiles slightly, a little flattered and a lot excited by how happy Dash is to see him. He knows it's just a spell and means nothing, but gosh does it feel good.

Dash backs up to give Danny room, unable to stop smiling. "You came here for me? Are you staying here?"

Danny eyes Dash a little worriedly. "Um, we can't stay here? We need to stop Ember. I don't know why me and mom are the only ones unaffected, I mean you were too but now you are, so. Um. We have to stop her from getting the whole world to chant her name."

Dash furrows his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you remember? This all started because Ember suddenly got popular at our school, and you saved me from the crowd, I mean helped me with Tucker- Oh fuck, Tucker! I forgot Tucker!"

Dash frowned and pulled Danny into a hug. "Who cares about them? I have you, and I won't let anything get between us." He kisses the top of Danny's head and leans down to try and give him a real kiss.

Danny pushes at Dash's shoulder. "Dash! Focus. I need you to help me save Tucker and the rest of the world. Please?" He gives Dash his best puppy-dog eyes, hoping the love spell will at least make them irresistible to him. And that Dash won't try to stall any more. They only have three hours, they have to hurry.

Dash bites his lip before nodding. "We have to stay together the whole time though, Danny. I love you too much for you to get hurt."

"Of course. You'll protect me, won't you?" Danny hopes he isn't laying it on too thick. But he needs Dash to work with him. "It'd be faster to fly to the school, could you contact Casper? Or something?"

Dash's hands tightened on Danny's hips as he changed, then he pulled him up and kissed the top of his head. "I'm here."

Danny blinks. "Oh, hi. Um, could you take me to the school? Lancer's classroom?"

Dash nods and picks Danny up bridal style again as he flies him there, kissing his forehead and occasionally dipping down to kiss his neck. This caused for kind of reckless flying, but luckily he manages to go intangible every time there's a solid thing in front of him.

Danny's face flushes, when he's picked up, and he squeaks every time Dash kisses him. He curls in on himself a little at the neck kisses, but he clings to Dash. When they get to the classroom, he stumbles to Tucker and cuts him free with a Fenton Anti-ghost knife. It's actually just a knife with a anti-ectoplasm coating, but it's sharp enough to cut through the fishing line. "Tucker, I am so sorry." He pulls the helmet off of his friend, who mumbles softly about algebra.

Dash stands less than a foot behind Danny, staring at Danny lovingly and occasionally throwing small glares at Foley for being so close to Danny.

Tucker blinks, and then he frowns. "Wait, is that Casper? That ghost boy? Why's he's looking at you like that? For that matter, why's he glaring death at /me/?"

Danny winces. "He's... under a spell. Don't mind him. And I need your help defeating Ember. She's an evil ghost who gets power when people chant her name and is going to take over the world in," Danny glances at the clock, "an hour and a half."

Dash doesn't actually pay attention to what's being said, instead focusing on how Danny's voice sounds. He bends down to kiss his neck again.

Danny squeaks, and Tucker's eyebrows go up to meet his hairline. Danny swats at Tucker, gently pushing Dash away with his other hand. "Shut up, Tucker, I told you he's under a /spell/. Will you just help me? Please? And Casper, please just stop doing that. And could you fly us to the stadium? We need to crash a concert."

Dash nods, pulling back. "How do I carry both of you?"

"Carry Tucker on your back? Like a piggyback ride or something." Danny doesn't know, but Dash can carry them. They weigh like, 90 pounds each. He's a football star, he can take it.

Dash looks at Tucker, then nods begrudgingly. "At least I won't have to look at him."

Tucker makes an affronted noise, but Danny shushes him. "Thanks, Casper!" He smiles brightly, and looks expectantly at Tucker. "We need to get going, so why don't you get set up first?"

Dash turns and squats a bit, though still floating a bit. He isn't entirely happy with it, but it's for Danny, so he has to.

Tucker huffs but does as he's told and climbs on. It's a little weird, and he has to wrap his legs around Casper's waist to keep on, but that's fine. Danny claps, when they're done.

Dash smiles at Danny lovingly and picks him up bridal style once Foley is attached to his back. "Where are we going?

"The stadium." Danny manages to say, fighting down a blush Tucker will mercilessly tease him for. Tucker already looks amused as hell, even if he's riding piggyback on a ghost.

Dash mumbles about Tucker into Danny's hair before realizing that now is the perfect opportunity to adjust Danny and kiss his neck, so he does.

Danny gasps, and clings to Dash a little. Tucker wolf-whistles. Danny squeaks, and swats at Dash's shoulder. "Casper!" He sort-of warns. His hat flew off at some point, so he hides his face in Dash's shoulder.

Dash starts to suck at the same spot where he'd kissed, not paying attention to Foley and misinterpreting how his name had been said.

Danny gasps, and swats Dash's shoulder again. "Casper! Stop!" His face was flushed, and Tucker actually made a worried noise then. Maybe he actually believed that Dash was under a spell, Danny doesn't usually do touchy-feely stuff.

Dash pulls back a bit, frowning. "You okay Danny?"

"Please don't do that while we're in the air! I'd rather you pay attention to our surroundings, please?" Danny looks up at Dash through his eyelashes. Tucker squeaks.

Dash doesn't get what he's talking about, veering around a billboard sharply.

Danny squeaks and clings harder, and Tucker's grip tightened too. "Casper! Please watch where you're going!"

Dash immediately flew more carefully because Danny had asked him to.

Danny sighs in relief, clinging to Dash. "Th-thank you." Danny presses a kiss to Dash's cheek. Tucker snorts softly, and from the glimpse Danny gets, he's back to smirking.

Dash finally reaches the concert stadium and does a once over the crowd before going backstage. He sets Danny down and goes intangible long enough for Foley to fall off before he's wrapping his arms around Danny's waist and going for a kiss.

Danny squeaks again, and turns his face so Dash kisses his cheek instead. Tucker snorts and starts walking toward the security console behind them. Danny pats Dash's shoulder. "Could you back up a little? I need a minute..." Danny sighs. "Tucker, do you know how to sabotage a concert?"  
"The square root of the hypotenuse is equal to- oh sure, Danny. One sec."

Dash pulls back a little bit, pouting slightly, but keeps his arms around Danny. He can't believe this is real.

Danny pats Dash's cheek lightly, and smiles at him. "Stay here, okay? And uh, don't wander off?" He gently pries Dash's arms off, so he can check in on Tucker. He needs to make sure Tucker is actually doing well, and Danny sort of wants a bit of distance. He likes Dash, but he's starting to feel seriously smothered here.

Dash follows a few steps after Danny because he can't fathom the idea of leaving Danny for even a few seconds.

Danny sighs a little, but at least Dash isn't touching him. Tucker looks at him a little funny, but he's also looking a little sympathetic, so Danny takes it. "How do you plan to do this?"  
Tucker snorts. "Well, we have to break the spell somehow. I'm working on that now."  
"Okay. What're we gonna do about Ember?"

Dash moves so that he's standing next to Danny and reaches for his hand. He alternates between staring at Danny and glaring at Tucker again.

Danny takes Dash's hand and threads their fingers together. The whole not touching thing was okay, but maybe just hand-holding would be safe? Tucker looked a little antsy, but as Tucker was about to do... something, Danny didn't know enough about this stuff to be able to tell, the intercoms came on, blasting Ember's song. Tucker went glassy-eyed, and stood up straight, and there was a commotion behind them. It didn't take a genius to figure out they'd been found.

Dash leans closer to Danny, looking down at him and smiling again.

Ember orders someone to grab them, and of course Tucker grabs Danny. Danny really wants to know why he isn't affected by Ember's music, why was he different? Danny thinks Kwan grabbed Dash, but he isn't sure.

Dash struggles against Kwan for a second, looking at Danny pathetically. "Danny?"

Danny bites his lip, and glances around. They're just behind the curtains, if he can convince Dash to go get Ember, Dash might win with surprise on his side. "Dash? Can you break free?"

"I could but I won't leave you behind." Dash says, struggling again.

"Dash! Ignore me! You need to fight Ember and free everyone from her spell!"

"I can't ignore you Danny! I love you!" Dash stops struggling, looking panicked. "I won't leave you again!"

Danny freezes. "D-Dash..." It's a spell, it's not real it's a spell. "Oh, I know I'm going to regret this, I'm sorry." He jabs an elbow into Tucker's stomach, making him stumble back and let Danny go. And then Danny grabs Tucker's face and kisses him.

Dash watches in horror as Danny kisses Foley, tears welling up in his eyes. He can literally feel his heart break, along with Kwan's grip on him loosen in shock. "Danny?" He asks.

Danny and Tucker pull apart, both spluttering. Tucker is whipping his mouth off furiously, half-screaming about 'bro-cooties'. Danny shudders, gagging a little. "Ugh. Um, I'm sorry. Are you... okay?" He looks at Dash worriedly.

Dash looks away. "No, I'm not okay. What do I need to do?"

Danny winces. "I'm sorry." He blurts, and then be bites his lip. "Ember. She put everyone under a spell. Including you."

"Then she's dead. Again." His fists clench and he goes intangible, flying towards the stage and starting to fight Ember.

Danny bites his lip, and his heart twists a little. He hadn't wanted to hurt Dash like that, but he hadn't know what else to do.

Ember is too strong on her own for Dash to actually defeat, and he remembers something about how hearing her name makes her stronger. "Danny!" He yells when he's close enough. "Get the crowd to shut up!"

Danny blinks, and then he has an idea. He'd broken the spell on Dash by having something so horrible happen that no one involved wanted to be a part of it. He grabs an extra microphone from the wall and tosses it at Tucker, who has finally gotten over his disgust. "Tucker! Sing! The crowd will love you more than they do Ember!"

"Damn right they will!" Tucker yells, and sprints to center stage, just as Ember tosses Dash to the side. He starts wailing, and everyone stops chanting. Danny covers his ears.

Ember has a split second left of looking pleased before her hair shrinks to a tiny bob of a ponytail and she sinks to her knees, clutching her heart and screaming for people to say her name. Dash sucks her into the Fenton thermos without anything else to say to her because he can't think of anything beyond how much seeing Danny kiss Foley had hurt.

Danny grabs the mic from Tucker, and lets him flop over. He looks at Dash worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Dash shakes his head. "I just, I need to go." He looks away. "Do you need a way home?"

Danny shook his head. "Dad and Jazz are in the crowd. Go do your thing." He wants to offer support, but well... Dash clearly didn't want to be near him. Definitely just the spell, then.

Dash hesitates, wanting to say something, but ends up being unable to find the words and turns to fly away, wanting to do nothing more than crawl into bed. He's exhausted.

Danny turns, and slips off the stage. As soon as he's on the ground, Jazz and Sam are there questioning why he's there and why they're here dressed like this and what happened and why he looks so sad. Danny just tells them he doesn't want to talk about it, and that he'd rather go to sleep. Today had been a long day, and it'd be nice to go without.... thinking for a while.


	4. there are feelings and sam and dash make plans to talk

Dash had asked Paulina on the ghost hunting hangout session for a couple reasons. First of all, he was annoyed by the taste of ectoplasm. Second, Paulina knew boys and girls and relationships and would be able to help him. So he hands her Kwan's thermos and starts working, and after a bit, he sighs. "So, um, I need your help."

"What is it now? Are you having boy trouble again? Is it someone new? Don't tell me you found someone better to talk feelings with, because I could not handle a betrayal of trust in that way." She snarks, using an Ecto-gun to shoot an ectopus that'd been sneaking up behind Dash's shoulder.

He flinches at the shot but trusts her not to get him. "How could I ever find someone new, Paulina? It's not as if we're the most popular people in the school." He rolls his eyes. "But yeah, feelings talk. I don't want them and you understand them. Help."

"I can't help if you won't tell me what feelings this is about, estúpida del cutie." Paulina reminds him, using the thermos to suck up the ectopus once it falls far enough behind Dash.

"It's about D- Fenton." Again, he almost says Danny.

Paulina huffs. "Always, with you. Just tell him how you feel, you want that boy more than I want all the girls in our school."

Dash flushed at that. "Are you kidding me? I'm not that into him, Paulina!"

"Casper. Fenton occupies your thoughts like Puppies occupy Kwan's."

He pauses, looking over at her in mild horror. "It isn't that bad, right?"

"You haven't spoken to him in almost a month, and practically a year before that, and yet you're still smitten. Yes, it is that bad."

Dash groaned. "Why me?" He looked at her again. "It's totally uncool to be this hung up on someone."

"It would be more uncool if Fenton wasn't as smitten as you are. Right now it's just sort of cute how you two have failed to communicate. I mean, we can't blame Fenton for not telling you, since he seems to think you want nothing to do with him."

Dash blinked, trying to remember if he'd ever said something like that. "Where did he get that idea?"

"You've been avoiding him since Ember, and the accident. Of course he's going to think it's because you don't want to talk or even look at him."

"What? No-" Dash shook his head. "Paulina, I didn't talk to him because I didn't know what to say, not because I'm avoiding him!"

"But he doesn't know that. And his friends, who don't know you two used to be friends, certainly haven't helped. You know how Manson, Goth Girl, feels about us."

Dash grimaces. "Yeah, she's not my biggest fan. Of Casper, at least."

Paulina nods. "Exactly. And the other friend he has is Foley. I'm sure you remember Foley."

"Uh, geek lord?" Dash asks. "Yeah, he's been a nerd since second grade, atleast."

"And he is far from your biggest fan, either." Paulina huffs. "They probably think ghosts don't have emotions, like Fenton's parents. At least Fenton has been advocating that since grade school."

"Oh shit, do you think he still thinks that about ghosts?" He looks over at her.

"I heard him arguing with Jazmine about the likelihood of a ghost with a complex society formed solely on negative emotions verses ghosts with full ranges of emotions forming society and ranking on their own. Three guesses which side he was on."

Dash's head started to spin when she was saying that. "Uh, okay?"

"He still believes ghosts can have complex emotions. He also believes they have societies and hierarchies."

"Oh, okay." He nods. "Thanks. That's cool."

Paulina nods. "You're welcome. I know he provides us with weapons, but maybe you should thank him for them or something. And for the love of all things pink and frilly, please talk to him about your feelings."

"I can't talk to him about feelings, P, that's- that's gay and I can't be gay."

"Honey. Everyone's a little gay. Kwan's gay, I'm gay, you're gay, Manson is gay, Fenton is totally gay."

"Fenton isn't gay, he's never even looked at a guy." Dash rolls his eyes. "Duh."

"Casper. He might be dumber than you, and he might not realize it, but he is very much attracted to you. And you're a guy, aren't you?"

"Yeah, duh." He crosses his arms. "But I can't just... I can't just talk to him about it."

"And why is that?"

"Because talking to guys about feelings is weird and if I tell him anything it will, I don't know, ruin it?"

"Casper. Right now, he thinks you hate him. How could you telling him you like him ruin what you have? Don't you want to spend time with him?"

"I do, but I can't stop thinking about the last time we did." He wince just thinking about it.

"And you need time to get over that, I understand, and he understands, but you also need to tell him that when you are over it, and you will eventually get over it, you want to be his friend. His special friend. His special friend who can kiss him sometimes."

Dash blushed and looked away from her. "But what if I don't get over it, Paulina?"

"If you can't get over it on your own, you can ask for Jazmine's or my own help."

"I've mentioned it to Jazz already, but I didn't like her advice."

"What was her advice?"

"Talk to Danny about everything."

"That's a great idea! Talking can be really therapeutic. I'm sure Danny has things he needs to talk about, too."

"Not you too, Paulina." He groans.

"I think it's a good idea. But you need to come to terms with stuff before you try it. Maybe start small? Talk to Danny about homework. That's a safe topic, right?"

"Homework? Like tutoring? I could maybe do that."

"Yes, perfect. Do that."

Dash switched back, dropping to his feet, and pulled out his phone to text Jazz to ask Danny if he had free time a couple days from then to tutor Dash in... "Hey, P, what should I ask him to tutor me in? I don't want it to be something I actually need help in, because then I'd need to pay attention and we wouldn't get to talk about stuff."

"Literature? I think his grade's good in that one?"

Dash nods. "Cool, thanks. I'm not too bad in there, though all the essays he's wanting us to do are killing my grade."

Paulina nods. "Great. Good luck."

Dash finished the text, then shoved his phone back in his pocket. "Hey, do you want to call the hunting quits for tonight? Feelings and ghosts don't mesh. I mean, I think I'm done talking about feelings, but still."

"Sure thing, Dash." Paulina smiles. "You're okay now, though, right?"

"I think so. Thanks for talking about it, I guess?" He stretches.

"Anytime."

He nods and starts walking in a different direction, holding out his hand for the thermos.

Paulina hands it to him. "You know, we're gonna have to empty this thing at some point."

"Huh?" He looks down at it. "Where would we even put them?"

"Well, if we get access to the Fenton's lab, we can send them back to the Ghost Zone. Right?"

He shook his head. "I can't go back there, Paulina. I can't do it. I mean, I guess it would make sense, but I can't do it."

"Then get a Fenton to do it for us."

"Jazz wouldn't on principle, but, Danny... I can't ask him to either."

"And why is that?"

"Because I don't want what happened to me to happen to him! What if he accidentally gets in there! He'd suck as a halfa! Or what if it, I don't know Paulina, actually kills him?" He crossed his arms. "Okay?"

"I don't think emptying the thermos involves actually going near the portal. That seems like a faulty design."

"Have you met the Fentons? Didn't you see Kwan's belt? Everything they make is, uh, 'faulty designed'."

"The things Mrs. Fenton designed aren't. The thermos, the ecto-gun, I'm sure she had a hand in making the portal."

"Yeah, but Mr. Fenton usually gets his hands on the stuff at some point." He shrugs.

"Can you trust Danny to figure out how to do this without getting hurt? He isn't completely useless, and he'll probably know to ask for help."

"I trust him, I trust you, I trust Kwan." He shrugged. "Doesn't mean I want any of you doing something like this."

"Dash, we're going to have to empty it some how. Unless we get a replacement every time we fill a thermos up, we're going to run out of space and risk letting all of the ghosts out."

He bit his lip, looking down at it. "Fine, I'll ask about it when we study."

"Good. Now go home and get ready for school. It starts in three hours."

He tugged out his phone to look at the time, then cursed. "I have morning practice in an hour Paulina!" He groaned. "Do you need me to drop you off at home?"

"No, I'm good. Go get 'em, Baxter. Good luck. And don't forget to make a costume for the party on Friday."

~o~

Sam and Danny had free period together. Usually they studied, but ever since that weird thing with that Ember chick, Sam insisted Danny talk with her about whatever was bothering him. Tucker had been teasing him about how Casper had treated Danny, and Danny had always reacted defensively. Usually by saying that Casper had been under a spell, and then not-quite-begging and not-quite-ordering Tucker to drop it. So Danny had explained how while Sam had been busy being under Ember's spell, Danny had run into Casper and had an adventure that happened to result in Casper getting hit with a spell that made Casper fall in love with him. Danny stammered for a while after that, mumbling how it was a spell and it hadn't been real, and Sam had felt a little bad; because even if Danny was seriously clueless, she also knew Danny had issues with relationships. Those really freaked him out. And then Dash walks up, and Danny just sort of freezes, watching Dash like he's expecting to get hit or something.

Dash had been out of class on a "bathroom" break, but really he was just anxious and felt like walking. He'd decided that everything that had happened with Ember was just a really had dream, but he still felt antsy and hurt and tired. While heading down one hallway, he notices Sam standing alone, and heads over to her. "Hey, Sam, do you have any plans for after school?"

Sam blinks. She glances at Danny, whose face is shadowed by his hat- a new one, apparently he'd lost the old one- and she shrugs slightly. "I don't have any plans? What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know? Nasty Burger, maybe? We haven't talked since the dance." He shrugs.

Sam nods, and smiles a little. "Alright. Well, Nasty Burger works. Meet me there an hour after school lets out. We have a lot to talk about."

Dash nods. "Cool, thanks. See you then." He smiles at her and walks away, but it's a really tired smile.

Danny sort of wilts, and Sam raises an eyebrow at him. She hears him mutter something about being ignored for a month only for /this/ to happen, and can't help the amused snort. And then she has to pause. "Wait, what do you mean he's been ignoring you for a month? He hasn't talked to you since 8th grade."


	5. sam and dash talk, and then dash and danny finally talk too

Dash is waiting at his usual booth in Nasty Burger with a tray of fries and two burgers- one normal with bacon, and one veggie. He'd thought it would be a nice gesture considering how long it'd been since they'd talked and how nice it had been when they had talked. Sure, it had ended with him having to beat her up as a dragon, and that part sucked, but she was nice and had a good fashion sense, even if it was darker than he was used to. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't seen Paulina's closet before. He has a strawberry soy-milkshake sitting across from him and a chocolate one for himself, and he's hoping that she won't dump it on him before he mentions what it is. He doesn't actually know how serious she is with her non-animal diet, but he hadn't wanted to risk anything.

Sam walks in, humming to herself. The talk with Danny hadn't gone as well as she'd liked, he'd looked at her like a deer in headlights, yelled 'Slip of the tongue!' and ran. She'd been annoyed, but had managed to calm down eventually. Dash would be able to clear up her doubts, and she might even get an answer as to why Dash avoided Danny, anyway. When she sees the milkshake and Veggie Burger waiting for her, she can't help the smile. She sniffs the milkshake, and is pleasantly surprised. "Is this soy-based?"

He nods. "Yeah, didn't know if milk was vegan or not. But, cheese isn't and you eat that, so I don't know. Is it okay?"

"It's fine! I'm a recyclo-vegetarian more than a vegan, and I just happen to like cheese." Sam admits. "But I have a question. Or maybe it's more of an observation? But. This is the second time you've asked me to meet you somewhere in front of Danny."

He blinks at her, then leans forward, eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"When you asked me to the dance, you did it in front of my locker while I was in the middle of asking Danny to go with me. Today, you asked to meet me here, after school, while I was in the middle of a conversation with Danny in front of /his/ locker."

"You were standing alone though." Dash says, more confused now than before. He didn't remember seeing Danny anywhere.

"We've been over this, people tend to treat Danny like he's invisible." Sam huffed. "On the note of Danny, for some reason he seems to be under the impression you've been avoiding him for the past month?"

Dash sighs and looks down. "Yeah. I have."

Sam blinks. She was expecting an evasion. "You... have? I don't remember you speaking to him voluntarily since 8th grade. What's different about the past month compared to the rest of that?"

"There was, um, this thing. I had a really bad dream and now I've actually been avoiding him. We might have talked, but I don't remember. Just can't stop thinking about the stupid dream." He picks up a fry. "Don't you know the feeling?"

Sam sighs. "I understand completely. But you should seriously talk to him. I know you thought you had this thing that would ruin your friendship or whatever, but the way he looked at you when you showed up, he looked like he expected you to punch him."

Dash looked up at her. "He what? I would never! You know I wouldn't, right?'

"I know, but he looked like he expected it. You should seriously talk to him." Sam huffs, pointing at him with a fry.

"I should, but I still feel like I can't. The dream, it felt really real."

Sam hums. "Maybe talk to me about it? I've heard talking helps."

He paused, then decided that it couldn't hurt. He picks up a fry. "Okay, remember the whole thing with Ember? I wasn't part of it, but I had this crazy dream while everything was going on. You can't tell anyone, but I think me and Danny were together in the dream."

Sam blinked, and nodded slowly. Danny had said Casper had been interested, but Dash wasn't Casper. "I won't tell anyone, cross my heart."

"Thanks. But it was really weird, because Foley was there too, and I hate Foley. But the whole dream, I was, um." He feels a blush come up the back of his neck. It feels good to talk about it all with her. He hadn't talked to Paulina or Kwan about it, and Jazz had wanted him to talk to Danny about it, which didn't feel like an option then and barely felt like an option now. "I was kissing him. On his neck and forehead and stuff. I don't know, it was weird." He shook his head, now thinking about the conversation with Paulina where she'd also told him to talk to Danny.

Sam blinks, and tilts her head a little. Danny had complained a bit about how often Casper had been kissing his face and neck and holding onto him. Danny wasn't into physical contact over extended periods of time, he'd felt smothered. "Huh."

"The dream ended with Danny kissing Foley in front of me. I don't know why it all bothered me so much, but Foley hasn't stopped being a dick and Danny. Well, he's still himself. He hasn't changed at all."

Sam's eyebrows shoot up. "Danny kissed Tucker? No way. He'd never do that willingly. I mean, sure, they've been friends forever, but Danny'd never kiss Tucker. Not unless his life depended on it."

"He, I think he'd been telling me to do something? I was really clingy in the dream." He shrugs. "It was weird."

Sam hums. "I guess. Danny gets really flustered and uncomfortable when he feels like being smothered."

Dash picks his burger up. "I guess."

Sam shrugs. "I think you should talk to Danny about it. He mentioned something happening with Casper while Ember was going on, maybe he has stuff to talk about, too."

Dash's face starts to heat up again. "Wait, what happened with Casper?"

Sam shrugs a little. "Danny refused to go into detail, but kinda the same sorta stuff that happened in your dream? Tucker's been making fun of him for it for a while, but Danny insists Casper was under some sort of spell."

Things start to make sense, but then they make less sense. "Wait, did my dream actually happen?"

Sam blinks at him. "What do you mean?"

"The stuff with Danny. Did it actually happen?" He says before realizing that she doesn't know his secret like Danny probably does.

Sam tilts her head. "Danny didn't mention it happening with you? Just with Casper. Tucker's been making fun of him for his 'squeaking' whenever Casper got too close."

Dash set his burger down. "I'll tell you after lunch. What's going on with you?"

Sam raises an eyebrow, but takes a few bites of her burger to contemplate her answer. "Nothing new really. Just trying to get Danny and Tucker to stop fighting, Tucker doesn't really know when to stop bringing up a sore subject, you know?"

He nods. "Yeah, I know. He never shuts up."

Sam snorts. "Usually he and Danny don't have too many issues, but Danny's sensitive about some things more than others. So they've been itching to fight it out, and even though I know Danny won't pull out any weapons, I'd rather they keep it to video games if anything. It'd be nice if they'd stop squabbling." she huffs.

"Danny could take him in a fight." Dash says immediately. "Foley is too talkative to actually do anything."

Sam rolls her eyes. "I know Danny could win. But I don't want them to fight, because they've known each other for years, and if they actually start fighting they could seriously hurt each other. Physically and emotionally. They have too much dirt on each other for a real fight not to affect their friendship if they actually did let it go to blows. You know?"

Dash thought about it. Foley had been Danny's friend about as long as Dash had. "Yeah, I think so."

Sam nods. "So it would be bad if they actually started fighting. Do you see what I mean?"

He nodded, picking up his burger and eating some of it. "Yeah."

Sam nods. "I know you don't like Tucker. But anyway. Aside from that, I've been focusing on my school work. And helping Danny with English."

"English? Why would he need help with English?" Dash's eyebrows furrowed.

Sam shrugged. "His handwriting is terrible. He just needs to work in writing legibly."

Dash laughed. "Good luck, his handwriting has always sucked."

Sam snorts. "I know. A girl can hope, right?"

"You can hope, that doesn't mean you'll get anywhere with it." He shakes his head. "Hey, I think I'm done here, do you want to go for a walk? I trust you and I want to tell you something. It's big."

Sam nods, putting down the remains of her burger. "Sure. Lead the way?"

He grabs the tray and tosses the food left on it, but keeps the milkshake. When they get to the door, he holds it open for her and avoids direct eye contact with Star as she steps into the building. He starts the walk by heading towards the back of the Nasty Burger, and stands there, one hand on his neck and the other holding the chocolate milkshake.

Sam follows, sipping her shake, eyebrows raised and waiting. "What do you need to tell me?"

"What did Danny tell you about the accident at his house?" Dash starts.

"Nothing. I wouldn't have known it happened if Jazz hadn't worriedly asked him if his nightmares about it had stopped, back when school started."

Dash laughed. "Oh, wow. I thought he would have mentioned it to you. It was pretty bad though. We were in his basement, messing around with the portal, and he stepped away for something, and I accidentally turned it on."

Sam blinked. "Oh, dear. I've seen that thing, it's huge. What happened?"

"Officially, I got electrocuted and had to spend a week getting better. The truth is that I half-died."

Sam blinked. "What?"

"I half-died and became half-ghost." He held out the milkshake. "Hold this for a second?"

Sam takes it, eyebrows rising. "Half-ghost?"

He changed from Dash to Casper. "Half-ghost."

Sam stares for a minute. "Wait, seriously? You're the ghost who's been saving the town? Really? I think I need a minute."

Dash changes back, taking the milkshake before she can dump it on him. "Yeah."

Sam stared for a full minute. "Does anyone else know? Aside from Danny, it's obvious he does."

"Kwan, Paulina, and Jazz." He replies immediately.

Sam blinks. And then she nods slowly. "Okay. Kwan and Jazz I understand. But Paulina? Really?"

"She's one of my best friends and I talk to her about things. She's kept the secret pretty well." He crosses his arms.

Sam wrinkles her nose. "I guess..." She shakes her head. "Anyway. So that stuff with Danny really happened?"

He paled. "What?"

"Danny has been complaining, and Tucker has been teasing him, about what happened during the Ember thing. Which means it had to have happened."

"Do you mean the bad dream? Danny kissing Foley?"

Sam shrugs. "Maybe. Neither of them mentioned *that*, but, it could've happened. The love spell and the picking Danny up and Danny falling off a roof happened. He's really been focusing on the falling off the roof part. I think he might be developing a slight fear of heights."

Dash sipped his milkshake, trying to remember more of the dream that may have been real. "Oh."

Sam frowns at him. "If it really did happen, you seriously need to talk to Danny. He only complains about the flying and the way you sorta smothered him after Tucker was rescued. He probably didn't mind the touching and kissing and whatever until he knew he was gonna be teased about it."

Dash shrugged. "It was an um, what did you say again? A spell? Anyways."

"Yeah. And Danny wasn't affected by it. Because that dork was wearing Fentonphones. He was protected from ghost noise and that includes Ember's powers. I can't believe he didn't realize it."

"Well, at least they worked?" Dash shrugged.

Sam sighs. "Yeah. But that means Danny would be okay with you touching and maybe even kissing him. Do you know what that means?"

"That he isn't straight and Paulina and Jazz aren't sending me into a death trap?" He guesses.

"Well yes, but also that you have more of a shot at dating him than I do. So you better not waste it." She pokes him in the chest, eyes narrowing.

Dash coughs. "Wait, you wanted to date him? I thought Paulina already- wait. I said nothing."

Sam growls. "I wanted to ask him to prom, remember?"

"Wait, that wasn't an innocent attempt to get him out of his house?"

"Oh sure, I framed it that way, but have you seen him in a suit?"

He shook his head. "Just the really tight one meant for his sister."

Sam hums. "Yeah okay, that one looks good, but he has this formal suit for dances and stuff, he looks amazing in it. But he can't get away with wearing a hat with it, so he only wears it when he absolutely has to. Too bad it's white."

"The hat or the suit?"

"The suit. His old hat was red and white, but the one he's wearing now is just red."

"Did I lose his hat?" Dash asks. "Was that my fault?"

"I don't know? He hasn't told me; he doesn't talk to me as much as I'd like. He doesn't tell Tucker everything, either."

"He should tell you more. He doesn't talk to people enough."

"I know. He used to talk to Jazz, but he stopped recently. I hope he'll open up to *someone* soon."

Dash nodded. "I hope he does too."

Sam nods. "And you should talk to him. Because he needs someone, and clearly it isn't me, Tuck or Jazz." She pokes Dash in the chest. "Danny deserves friends, doesn't he?"

He looks down at her finger. "Yeah."

"And he wants to be yours. Stop ignoring him."

He nodded. "I'm having him tutor me tomorrow."

Sam hums. "Okay. I hope that goes well. Good luck." She steps back, and sips her half-forgotten milkshake. "You better not hurt him. He has enough to deal with without that added to it."

He shakes his head. "I won't, I don't think I can."

Sam nods. "Good. Be careful anyway. And remember, he loves space."

Dash laughs. "Like I could forget."

Sam smiles. "It's just a reminder. Get him to talk about that and ghosts, and he'll talk your ear off. Just don't let him think he's bored you, okay?"

Dash nods. "It's easy to listen to him, his voice is nice."

Sam sighs a little. "It is. A-anyway, I have to go. There's a DOOM tournament tonight..."

He nods. "Go ahead, have fun. Need a ride home?"

"No, I'll walk. Thanks for talking, if you ever need anything, you have my number. And I know where you sleep." She winks, and starts heading toward her house.

He laughs, even though he is kind of nervous. He heads to the parking lot and hops into his car, driving to Kwan's house.

~o~

Jazz had asked him; in her most confused-but-hoping-this-will-help-him voice, that Dash had asked Danny to tutor him in English. She went on to mention Dash actually had a pretty decent grade in the class, where as Danny's was currently a D. A high D, but still a D. Danny agreed anyway, thinking it was maybe Dash's way of asking to talk. So Danny waits at the spot Jazz set up for them to meet, and before he can stop himself, he blurts out what he'd been thinking; "I don't know why you asked me to tutor you, considering your grade in this class is higher than mine."

Dash's eyes widen when Danny blurts out something that sounds a lot like an accusation, and he blinks a couple times. "What?" He asks, then adds a laugh for good measure. "What are you talking about?"

Well, no going back now. Already said it, might as well own it.   
"Dash, you have a C in this class. I've got a D."

"It's a low C and I need a high C?" He says, shrugging, hoping Danny will buy it. This was a really bad idea.

Danny raises his eyebrows. Normally, he doesn't feel this... sassy? Snarky? But right now, for some reason, he does. Usually he keeps the comments to himself. "Uh-huh. Well, unless you've got issues with the reading, I cant help you, because as a result of my parents' obsessive need for me to be part of their research, I have a tendency to write in ghost-speak rather than actual English. Lancer's lost patience with me."

Dash frowns. "Wait, you parents know ghost-speak?"

"Yes? I mean, it's not an exact language, and there are times I think I understand it better than they do- it's a code, and it's slightly different for each individual ghost, yaknow- but they've been studying ghosts for decades, they've learned everything they can about ghosts."

Dash hums. "I um- Kwan's noticed Casper use it sometimes. Not often, but once or twice. Said it sounded like gibberish."

"Spoken, it does. It kinda looks it, written out, too. I could teach you how to read it if you want? I mean, I learned to speak and write it around the same time I was first learning to write English, so it's really simple for me, but I could try?"

Dash nodded. "Can't be too much harder than Spanish." He grinned, and he kind of wished that he could tell Danny how helpful he was actually being. "Thanks."

Danny smiles. "I'd love to help in any way I can. I know a few universal phrases, if you want to start there? You know you could've told Jazz you needed to learn Ghost Speak, she's just as fluent as I am. Doesn't mix it up with English as much as I do, but."

"Yeah, but she's like a therapist, dude. She has tutored me, but it's been a long time since I learned anything with her."

Danny hums. "I guess. She tried to be my therapist, once, didn't really work."

Dash furrowed his eyebrows. "How did it not work? She's always been really good with me."

"She insisted a lack of sleep was the root of my issues in school."

"Is she wrong?" Dash leaned back.

"My issue is that I don't really care enough about what's being taught, and I'm just not... motivated enough to care. I told her as much, and she still insisted my sleep schedule was to blame."

Dash frowned. "Oh- wait, seriously? She totally ignored what you were saying?"

"Yes."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that wouldn't work." Dash nodded.

Danny nods. "Eventually she gave up on trying to be my therapist, but from time to time she psycho-analyzes me." Danny hums. "Anyway, did you want to try and learn a few words or phrases? The basics shouldn't be too hard, I don't think."

Dash suddenly remembered what the goal of the hangout had been, and thinks for a minute. "Actually, man, can you write down the stuff later, and maybe just hang out for now? We haven't talked in a really long time, you know?"

Danny blinks, but he pulls out a piece of paper. "Uh, okay. I'll write down some stuff and you can... start? Catching up usually involves questions, right? You have any in mind?"

"Okay... Um..." Dash leaned back, playing with his pencil. "How have you been?"

'Yvette' is a general affirmational phrase-  
Oh, um...  
"Uh well, pretty good? Dad's got the booo-merang to stop targeting me, Mom figured out I had a low-level ecto-signature, so they've been making sure all of their equipment ignores it. So they won't attack me if Fentonworks ever goes on red alert. Mom's also been working on the Fentonphones, you know the little green earbuds I was wearing during the Ember Incident?"

Dash laughed. "Um, about that. Did the Ember thing actually happen?"

Danny's head tilts. "What do you mean? How would I and most of the school remember it if it /didn't/?"

"I mean, like, the part with me and you. Did that actually happen?"

Danny blinks. "Um. The part with the love spell? And the falling off a roof? Yes. That happened."

Dash's eyes widened. "Oh shit. I thought that part was a dream."

"No, it happened. The police remember it too. They've been watching Fentonworks for a while, they thought I jumped voluntarily."

Dash winced, then his eyes widened. "Wait, wasn't it my fault you were there anyways? You were helping me fight- helping Casper fight Ember."

"You transformed in front of me ten minutes later, can we just call it you?"

"Wait, I did what? Was anyone else there?"

"We were in your room. Only your stuffed animals saw."

Dash blushed. "Oh."

Danny rolls his eyes, but he smiles a little. "But anyway. Yes, I was helping you fight Ember."

"We won, right?"

"Yes, we did. Tucker broke both spells, first, though. Without him we'd probably be in a world ruled by Ember."

Dash shuddered. "Her song wasn't that good."

"But it had power behind it. She literally brainwashed everyone in Amity Park- everyone but me and my mom and you- into loving her. And then she brainwashed you into loving me." Danny wrinkles his nose. "That was weird. You acted weird. Don't do most of what you did ever again."

"Wait, that was what her spell was?" Dash's blush got darker.

"It was supposed to make us love each other, but Sam says I wasn't effected 'cause of the Fentonphones."

"Oh. It all felt normal. Real." Dash shrugged. "Maybe that was part of it?" He laughed nervously.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't really mind it for the most part? Some of it was just weird. And sorta scary? Like if you're ever in the position to carry me somewhere please pay attention to where you're going."

"I pay attention to where I'm flying." Dash replies defensively. "We didn't hit anything, did we?"

"I'd rather you not suddenly swerve to the left or right because you just noticed an obstacle! I was sort-of scared of heights before the whole thing happened! I don't even want to try to get up on a roof again, do you know how terrifying this sort of stuff is??"

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't know how it happened." Dash crossed his arms.

Danny sighs. "Sorry, I just. It freaked me out, and I don't really know how to deal with it."

"I'm sorry." Dash sighed. "But, the whole point of this was that Jazz, Paulina, and Sam wanted us to talk."

Danny tilts his head. "About what?"

"Feelings."

Danny blinks, and pulls off his glasses, checking to see if they're smudged. "Feelings about what?"

"Like, feelings about what happened with Ember. Feelings about, um, us." The blush returned in full.

"Oh, well, uh. I don't know?" Danny pauses in cleaning the lenses to look at where Dash's face should be. "I've never really thought about my feelings. I don't understand them."

"Well, okay, um, do you like me?" Dash asks, trying to be helpful.

Danny blinks. "Um, of course? You're my friend? A- aren't you?" Danny bites his lip.

Dash blinked. "Yeah, I am your friend. But like, do you like me?"

Danny's eyes narrow. "Um, yes? I just answered this question. I like you, that's usually a thing friends do."

Dash ran a hand through his hair. "Danny, not like friends. More than that. Like, god, do you like like me?"

"I don't understand?"

"Like, when I was under Ember's spell, did you like everything that I was doing? Would you want to, I don't know," He pauses for a second nervously. "Date me?"

"I was fine with the stuff that didn't scare me? But isn't a date a fruit? I mean it's also a time but"

Dash stared at him. "Dates aren't fruits."

"Yes? They are? Mom grows them. They're the only thing she can grow??"

Dash looks away. "Um. No? Whatever, just, I'm not talking about those." He looks back at Danny. "I'm talking about like, romance."

"I've never had that stuff explained to me."

Dash blinked. "What about all the romcoms? Did we ever get a chance to watch them together?"

"Um, no? I don't know how it works?"

Dash bites his lip. "Oh."

Danny shrugs. "I don't understand feelings."

"I don't know how to explain- didn't your parents explain? Jazz?"

"My parents taught me how to speak and write in Ghost-speak before they taught me how to write English. And I told you what Jazz tried to tell me my problem with school was, why would I listen to her about anything else?"

"Shit." Dash reached for the water bottle in his bag and took a quick sip. "I don't know what to do- we could try talking to Paulina? She could explain things to you."

"I can't talk to Paulina. Do you know what the jocks would do to me if I looked at her?"

Dash frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Have you not noticed how the nerds are treated in our school? You do it to Tucker, you should know. If one of the nerds steps out of his bounds, what happens to him?"

Dash blinked, then looked at Danny sharply. "Is someone fucking with you?"

Danny blinks. "What? Why?"

"Are some of the jocks fucking with you? Which ones?"

Danny frowns, and his jaw clenches. "What does it matter?"

"Because I care about you."

Danny's frown softens a little. "I can take care of myself. You don't have to defend me from some perceived threat."

"Just because I don't have to doesn't mean I don't want to. We've been friends for-" He pauses, then realizes how shitty of a friend he's been lately. "I just care about you a lot, okay?"

Danny's frown shifts into a pout. "And I care about you. But I don't need or want someone to step in and defend me."

Dash smiles at him. "And when have I not tried? I mean, other than these past few months. And, um, I'm really sorry about them."

Danny rolls his eyes. "You were dealing with some stuff. I don't blame you. I still don't want you to defend me, okay? I can fight my own battles. I'm stronger than I look."

"It wasn't okay. I should have talked to you, I shouldn't have been scared or freaking out. You've been my friend forever."

Danny shrugged a little. "To be honest I avoided you for a little bit too, at first. It's perfectly natural to be scared, you know. Don't blame yourself for dealing with something."

"But what about when I realized that I had powers? I knew you could help me, but I couldn't man up and talk to you. And then there was the thing with Ember, and the dream ended so badly that I didn't talk to you again for a while." He shook his head.

Danny shrugs. "I managed to help you anyway. And we're talking now, aren't we? The past is the past- dwelling on it isn't going change it."

"Doesn't mean I don't feel like shit about it. Besides, um, I know the first couple parts were real, but what about the last one?" Dash glances up at Danny. "With Foley?"

Danny winces. "I'm sorry. I had to do something to break the spell. It was the only thing I could think of."

Dash shakes his head. "It's okay. Sorry. Just, did you try anything else? Punching me in the face?"

"Tucker had me pinned. And you were in ghost-mode. Also by that point I was pretty sure if I punched you in the face you were probably gonna thank me. I was desperate and I don't usually think things through on my best days."

Dash thought about it for a second before grimacing. "Yeah, I probably would have thanked you." He shakes his head. "Sorry. I know it's not something we can go back and change."

Danny nods. "Yeah. But I'm sorry I kissed him, it was the only thing I could think of doing. I don't know what else I would've done, but. I'm sorry I did it? It wasn't very pleasant on my end, either. I don't like Tucker enough for that. He's my oldest, closest friend, but I just... nah."

Dash nods. "Yeah. But, moving on from Foley?"

Danny nods. "Okay. What else?"

"Do you want to try watching a romcom with me to maybe get a reference on relationships? We could stop by my house, it wouldn't be too much trouble for me to fly up and grab a couple."

"Okay." Danny looks down at his paper, which he'd been sort of scribbling on when conversation lulled. He'd written down the common words, but all the definitions save the first were also in ghost-speak. He grimaces.

Dash leans over and looks at the paper. "Wait, why did you write it all in ghost speak?"

Danny sighs. "I wasn't trying to."

"I understand it, I think." Dash says.

Danny blinks. "Well, I mean, you are a ghost, so. That makes sense? But I wasn't even trying to write in it. This is why I'm failing English." Danny pouts.

"Some of the words look weird. I could ask one of the nicer ghosts about the written language, if you want?"

"Jazz can speak it too, remember? She'd probably be thrilled to help you."

"Yeah, but what are the odds your parents knew perfect syntax and accents on the words?" Dash raises an eyebrow. "What if it's like French?"

Danny wrinkles his nose. "They taught me English syntax along with it, and it was mostly guesswork with the pronunciation. So I guess you'd have better luck with asking an actual ghost, but I don't know who would help you."

"The lunch lady? She's nice as long you're not Sam."

Danny snorts. "I guess. The Box Ghost isn't too bad if you give him something, too. He likes cardboard, but wood and plastic are acceptable too."

Dash nods. "Maybe I could see about talking to one of the others too? Which ones don't totally hate me?"

"Well, Technus probably doesn't hate you? He just thinks you're dumb. He likes Tucker, though. I've heard them swapping geek-gossip before. Um, Skulker doesn't hate you? He just wants to mount your, uh, 'pelt' on his wall. I heard him swapping recipes with Sam last week."

"Why don't you talk to the ghosts?" Dash suggests. "They'd probably like you."

Danny shrugs a little. "I don't know... I'd much rather just help from the background. I don't think they'd like me, I'm annoying."

"You're not annoying." Dash frowns. "How could you ever be annoying?"

Danny blinks. "I just... am? I babble and I don't always know when to shut up, and I flail my hands and... I'm just annoying."

"You're adorable." Dash says, staring at him. "All of that is adorable."

Danny frowns at him. "You're probably biased."

"I am, but does that mean I'm wrong?" Dash asks.

"It means your opinion doesn't count."

"But my opinion does count." Dash sat back. "And my opinion is that you're adorable and not annoying."

"But it's biased, so until I've been given an unbiased opinion one way or the other, I'm ignoring yours."

Dash pouted at him.

Danny rolls his eyes.

Dash shakes his head. "So."

"Yes?"

"Did you want to watch a movie?" Dash asked. "Since studying isn't an option."

"Sure. Sorry the whole study thing failed."

"It's okay. I didn't actually need to study English anyways, that's why I asked you to tutor me in it."

Danny blinks. "But, tutoring and asking for help implies needing it?"

"I did need help. Help starting a conversation." Dash smiled.

"Oh, yeah, okay." Danny nods a little. "At least we managed to do that."

Dash nods. "Thanks."

Danny smiles brightly. "Anytime."

"Sam might not kill me." Dash sighs in relief.

Danny blinks. "Why would she?"

"Because she doesn't want me to hurt you?"

Danny frowns. "It's like neither one of you trusts me to take care of myself." He squints.

"We do, but we also know that sometimes you um..." Dash realizes that he was potentially about to say something stupid. "We care about you a lot."

Danny frowns. "Well duh. But that wasn't what you were going to say. What'd you mean?"

"Sometimes we care about you too much and we make bad decisions?" Dash amends, mashing together his original thought and the one that won't get him slapped.

Danny blinks. "Oh, okay. Well, I care about you both too?"

Dash nods. "Thanks. Pass it on to her?"

Danny nods. "'Course."

Dash nods again. "So, movies?"

Danny nods, dropping his paper and pencil into his bag and standing up. "Lead the way?"

Dash grabs his own and starts walking, failing to notice that he's floating an inch or two about the ground.

Danny reaches out and tugs him down, moving so he can twine their fingers together after a second. He's always liked holding hands, he tends to do it with Tucker more than anyone else, but it feels safe to do it with Dash.

Dash looks down in surprise at their hands, then at Danny. His feet are touching the ground now, but the bounce in his step might be his powers.

Danny leans on him lightly, humming to himself a little. It's nice.

Dash smiles to himself. "Danny?"

Danny glances up. "Mm?"

"Thanks for still talking to me."

Danny frowns a little. "Why wouldn't I? You're my friend. I care about you, of course I'd want to talk."

Dash shrugs. "You could have ignored me. I wouldn't have blamed you."

"But I don't want to. I tried that, it didn't work very well."

Dash shrugs. "You can do anything if you're mad enough."

"Well I wasn't mad 'enough'. I wasn't even mad? Like. At all."

"Wait, you weren't mad?" Dash glances down at him. "Not at all?"

"About the stuff with Ember? No. The accident? Nope. I was a little freaked out by that one, but can you blame me?"

Dash shook his head. "Still."

"Wasn't mad, though. I was a little hurt, after a while, but I got over it. You had stuff to deal with."

"I could have asked you for help."

"Can't change the past~" Danny sing-songs. "Doesn't matter what you could've done. Just what you're gonna do. You're not gonna abandon me suddenly, are you?"

Dash shakes his head. "I wouldn't. And, if I did, I'd come back and get you as soon as I could."

Danny nods. "Then there's nothing to feel bad or worried about."

Dash can't help but smile and squeeze his hand. "Thanks."

Danny hums, leaning into him a bit more for a second, and smiling. "Anytime."


End file.
